Field of the Art
The present invention relates to an individualized short-range radio communication method and system, and particularly to a method and system of communication between surrounding devices suitable for communicating with one or more technologies and protocols each, and one or more central devices suitable for setting up communications with multiple technologies and protocols each, to find out which technologies and protocols each of said surrounding devices is able to communicate with, and for communicating with each of said surrounding devices in an individualized manner.
The invention also relates to a central device suitable for forming part of said system.
Prior State of the Art
Different proposals are known relating to wireless communication which, making use of the evolution of the technologies existing in said field, attempt to offer the users of personal, preferably portable devices, a variety of functionalities.
Patent application WO-A-02087266 relates to an information distributor and a method of using the same for communicating information to portable computing devices. The method comprises receiving information from a wireless source and transmitting information on demand to a portable device located within the coverage range of the distributor, said transmission including generating a beacon signal, detecting a recognition signal transmitted by said portable device in response to said beacon, and generating in response to said recognition signal, the radio broadcast of said information.
In another patent application of the applicant of the aforementioned background document, specifically application WO-A-02087094, a wireless communication method is proposed which is similar to the one of the preceding background document, the difference here being that it specifies that the beacon signal is generated using a first modulation scheme and the recognition signal with a second different modulation scheme. The recognition signal is also defined as an indicator of reception of the beacon signal by the portable device. The information is finally radio broadcasted according to the mentioned first modulation scheme. In said document a method for transmitting information to a portable device is also proposed using a first communication protocol for transmitting to the device a client program by means of which the device can communicate with a distributor using a communication protocol for data transfer, by means of which a polling signal is transmitted in a manner similar to the proposed wireless communication method, a recognition thereof is detected, and finally information is radio broadcasted.
The recognition signal prompting said radio broadcast does not involve a response and an explicit acceptance of said beacon or polling signal, or of the associated sending of information, by the portable device, it is simply an acknowledgement of reception thereof. On the other hand, the indiscriminate manner in which the proposed distributor in said background document transmits information, in the sense that it radio broadcasts it, distances said background document from the field of individualized communication.
Other contributions to the state of the art are focused on sending information to a personal device according to the situation thereof.
This is the case of document JP-A-2002259011 relating to a personal digital assistant (PDA) and to a program for updating the display thereof. Communication means which are associated to the PDA are responsible for predicting the position of the PDA after consulting electronic equipment or devices surrounding such device. Information is automatically generated according to its position, such information being in menu form relating to said position, which is shown on the display of the PDA.
The proposal made in said document is focused on finding out the position of the user of the PDA by means of the arrangement of a series of “spy” devices surrounding the PDA. The need for such devices, whether they are specifically designed for carrying out such function or conventional devices (e.g. television sets, refrigerators, etc.) in which an additional element has been added to carry out such function, results in a great difficulty and task for carrying out such proposal for each possible location. On the other hand, the aforementioned document makes no reference to the updating of said menus for the same location or to the possibility of interaction by the user.
Patent application US 20040224699 is also focused on the mentioned sending of information to a personal device according to the situation thereof. Said application proposes a method and system for supplying information to a portable device and a portable device. The information which is sent is in accordance with the preferences of the user of the device found out thanks to an identifying signal sent from such device, and with its location, which is found out, for example, by triangulating said identifying signal.
The level of interaction for the user contemplated in said document does not go beyond the prior selection of preferences incorporated in said identifying signal, providing no possibility that the user can interact with the information received, nor that such information is more than static information, nor that the latter is updated if the user readopts a position in which it had previously been in. The start of transmission is also completely conditioned to the prior sending of said identifying signal.
No proposals are known which contemplate a central device suitable for communicating with multiple short-range technologies with a series of surrounding devices, and also suitable for finding out which technology and protocol, or technologies and protocols, each of said surrounding devices is able to communicate with, and to set up a communication with each of the surrounding devices, individualized at least in reference to the technology and protocol, or technologies and protocols, which each of said surrounding devices is able to communicate with.